The Whitehall softball team picked up its second big win in as many weeks on Monday afternoon, edging Fort Ann by a run on the Cardinals home field.
Whitehall scored three runs in the first inning and held Fort Ann in check the rest of the way for a 4-3 victory.
Victoria Christian went 3 for 4 at the dish with a double and a run, and Jackie Raino was 2 for 3 for the Railroaders, who improved to 7-2 on the season.
Brittney Putorti picked up her seventh win of the season, despite allowing two solo home runs to Kaleigh Foran. She held Fort Ann to six hits in seven innings pitched.
After Whitehall jumped on the board with a big first inning, Fort Ann chipped away at the lead, scoring a run in the second inning and another in the fourth.
Up 3-2, Whitehall managed to push ahead a single run in the fifth inning, and that proved to be the difference as they held on for the win.
The victory avenged a 13-7 loss to Fort Ann earlier in the season.
The Railroaders have now beaten Argyle and Fort Ann in consecutive weeks, the top two teams in the Adirondack League East Division, and are now tied with Fort Ann in second place, a half game behind Argyle, which was 8-1 (9-1 overall) on Tuesday.
Last Friday, Whitehall blanked Salem 16-0 behind a brilliant pitching performance by Brittney Putorti, who threw a no-hitter.
The Whitehall defense only had to sit back and watch as Putorti recorded all 21 outs by strikeout.
The 16 runs scored was Whitehall’s highest offensive output of the season. The Railroaders scored a run in every inning except the second, including four in the first and third innings, and three in the fourth and seventh innings.
The only blemish for the squad came last Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to Corinth.
Whitehall was held scoreless through the first five innings as Alicia Nicholson stuck out eight in the complete-game victory. The Railroaders managed only four hits in the game.
That loss came on the heels of an emotional 2-1 win over previously unbeaten Argyle.
Whitehall hosts Fort Edward on Friday afternoon and Hartford on Monday.
If the Railroaders win both those games, they’ll ensure themselves a berth in Sectionals because they will finish no worse than .500 in the standings.
